Artist Sudarsan Pattnaik' sand Ganesh is against plastic pollution

The sand art of Lord Ganesh created by sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik. Pic/Twitter Sudarsan Pattnaik

Today, September 1, marked the beginning of the 10-day long Ganesh Chaturthi festival across the country. While in Mumbai, devotees were seen arriving at the Lalbaug Cha Raja pandal to seek the blessings of Lord Ganesh, in Odisha, World-renowned Indian sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik created a sand sculpture to commemorate the beginning of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

Sudarsan Pattnaik created a unique sand sculpture of Lord Ganesh by using 1000 used plastic bottles around it at Puri beach in Odisha in order to give a message of saying to single-use plastic and saving the environment. The sand art of Lord Ganesh carries the message of saying to single-use plastic and contributing to making the environment free from plastic pollution.

Also Read: Odisha CM lauds sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik on winning award

Pattnaik said that the theme was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech during the Independence Day where he urged citizens across the country to shun the use of single-use plastic. "PM Modi gave a clarion against single-use plastic in his Mann Ki Baat radio broadcast and his address to the nation on the Independence Day," Pattnaik, the renowned artist from Odisha said, reports news agency PTI.

Pattnaik said that his sand sculptor aims to create awareness about the ill effects of plastic pollution and the damages it causes to the environment. He also said that if the plastic is not recycled, it takes up to a thousand years to decompose thereby creating health hazards and harming the environment at large.

The sand artist also said that on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi he requests people to not to use single-use plastic in order to save the environment. Pattnaik made the 10-ft high sand sculpture of Lord Ganesh by using 5 tonnes of sand and about 1000 plastic bottles were installed around the sculptor to promote the message of 'say no to single-use plastic'.

While speaking to news agency PTI, Pattnaik also recalled how he won the Peoples Choice award at the Boston International Sand Art Championship 2019 where he created a sand sculpture and showed the global issue of plastic pollution.

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With inputs from PTI

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